Multi-part garments, such as two piece swimsuits, are difficult to present in an attractive, eye-pleasing fashion to the retail customer. One form of garment hanger that has been developed to display such garments comprises two pieces, namely, a conventional upper garment hanger and a lower, drop loop hanger. The drop loop hanger usually includes a loop, generally flexible, from which a downwardly extending vertical spacer rod extends, the spacer rod terminating at its lower end portion in a generally horizontally disposed cross bar. The drop loop hanger cross bar is thereby spaced a desired vertical distance below the cross bar of the upper hanger so that the two pieces of the garment are separated, one from the other, when attached to the garment hanger. Each of the cross bars has suitable means, such as a clip for suspending and displaying one piece of a two piece garment at each end of each cross bar.
While such a compound hanger serves the basic function of displaying both pieces of a two piece garment in spaced relationship to one another, the overall appearance to the customer is often somewhat unattractive because the drop loop hanger has a tendency to swing about its point of support on the upper cross bar like a pendulum. Further, often the customer is not able to obtain a good view of a racked garment when the top cross bar is tilted by the customer in an attempt to swing the garment out away from similar garments located on either side of it. The adjacent garments, particularly when a rack of such garments is quite crowded, tend to hold the lower garment and the drop loop hanger in its normal vertical position by reason of the restraining forces exerted by the adjacent garments on the drop loop garment. As a consequence, the lower piece of the two piece garment is not brought out into the open where the customer may view it.
Even when the customer removes the garment from the rack a poor presentation often results because the lower drop loop hanger flops about as the customer holds the garment up and attempts to view it from different angles while contemplating purchase.
In addition to the above described customer related deficiencies inherent in current drop loop type hangers, loading of the garment on such a hanger is more difficult than it should be due to the free swinging action of the drop loop hanger. Retail store personnel for example are often required to load a large number of two piece garments on such hangers in a relatively short period of time, as when a new shipment of such garments are received at a retail store. The loading task can be fatiguing and frustrating, both for the retail store personnel who load the hangers at the retail store and, also, for the factory personnel who load the hangers prior to shipment in those instances where the garments are shipped in a hung condition.
The above described problems cannot be avoided by simply making the upper and lower hangers of a structurally integral construction since, particularly at the retail level, the hangers must be disassembled for seasonal use; specifically, the drop loop hanger which displays a two piece swimsuit in June may be required to display a pair of heavy wool slacks in November, at which time the drop loop hanger would be a nuisance. Hence, to accommodate the possibility of all season use, the hanger components must be separable, one from another.